Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 193
The Magnificent Seven
President Trump ripped Hunter Hess on Sunday after the U.S. skier spoke out against the political climate in his home country at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan earlier this week, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics. If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this.”
Playbook: “The world is watching for Bad Bunny to make a political statement at the Super Bowl. Democrats are watching closely to figure out how to make their own.”
“Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, the Puerto Rican recording artist known globally by his stage name, has created a pop culture phenomenon that will converge at a historic halftime show performance at the Super Bowl tonight when the New England Patriots play the Seattle Seahawks. And while his invitation triggered a harsh backlash on the right from the president on down, it’s also marking a major inflection point for Hispanic Americans of all backgrounds.”
“Tonight’s stage may prove to be Bad Bunny’s biggest chance to move the dial.”
“There’s an opportunity here, Democrats told your authors, to turn Bad Bunny’s cultural phenomenon into a political one, right as the party is mounting its strongest resistance to President Donald Trump’s sweeping deportation agenda — and with months to go before the midterms to make amends with Latino voters who have left their tent.”
Wall Street Journal: “Bad Bunny has faced backlash from conservatives since being selected in September to headline the Super Bowl halftime show this Sunday. Some right-wing influencers zeroed in on his criticism of Trump’s immigration agenda, his exclusively Spanish-language lyrics and his gender-fluid fashion choices. They also cast him as a foreigner, despite him being from Puerto Rico, which is a U.S. territory and makes him a U.S. citizen since birth. President Trump has called the halftime-show choice ‘absolutely ridiculous.’”
“Since then, Trump’s handling of immigration has begun to sour with voters, with polls showing a majority of Americans feel ICE has gone too far. Bad Bunny’s latest salvo is reigniting the culture-war controversy over his selection, and immigration policy more broadly, just days before the country’s most-watched sports event.”
“It looks like I’ll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.C. Get ready Noah, I’m going to have some fun with you!”
— President Trump, on Truth Social, accusing Grammy Awards host Trevor Noah of making defamatory comments related to the Epstein files.
Bruce Springsteen is dedicating his new song to the people of Minneapolis, criticizing President Trump’s ongoing immigration enforcement operations in the city, the AP reports.
The lyrics of “Streets of Minneapolis,” describe how “a city aflame fought fire and ice ‘neath an occupier’s boots,” which Springsteen calls “King Trump’s private army.”
President Trump told the New York Post that he’s not going to the Super Bowl this year because “it’s just too far away.”
The game is being played in Santa Clara, CA.
Trump also slammed halftime performers Bad Bunny and Green Day: “I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”
Elon Musk is going to the World Economic Forum in Davos for the first time, after years of trading barbs with the organizers of the annual gathering of plutocrats, Bloomberg reports.
Musk has in the past called the annual gathering of the world’s elite “boring” and slammed the WEF as a body that’s “increasingly becoming an unelected world government that the people never asked for and don’t want.”
Jonathan Chait: “President Trump’s threats against artists who decline to perform at the renamed Kennedy Center are ultimately hollow.”
President Trump asserted that filmmaker Rob Reiner’s very public opposition to him was the real cause of his murder.
Said Trump: “Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
Chris Cillizza: “Trump’s response to Rob Reiner’s death proves he is a bad, bad person.”
Cheryl Hines has admitted she was “surprised” to see friends peel away over her marriage to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Daily Beast reports.
Said Hines: “I have some friends that I’ve known for 30 years… people just started dividing.”
She added: “Politics is so emotional to some people, and some people cannot separate… politics from… friendships.”
Ozzy Osbourne’s family has revealed that President Trump left a voicemail for Sharon Osbourne after the 76-year-old rock icon died from cardiac arrest in July, the Daily Beast reports.
Said Trump: “Ozzy was amazing, he was an amazing guy. I met him a few times and he was unique in every way and talented. So I just wanted to wish you the best and it’s a tough thing. I know how close you were and whatever I can do. Take care of yourself. Say hello to the family. Thanks. Bye.”
“Cheryl Hines said Democrats have been giving her a hard time ever since her husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr. began his rise in politics, though the GOP has always been nice,” The Wrap reports.
Said Hines: “The Republicans have been very kind to me, from the beginning.”
Olivia Rodrigo criticized the Trump administration after one of her songs was featured in a government video promoting deportation efforts, The Guardian reports.
Though George Clooney doesn’t regret his New York Times op-ed urging former president Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential election, he does think it was a “mistake” having Kamala Harris step in as the democratic nominee, the Hollywood Reporter reports.
Said Clooney: “We had a chance. I wanted there to be, as I wrote in the op-ed, a primary. Let’s battle-test this quickly and get it up and going.”
A new Quinnipiac poll shows 48% of Americans approve of the NFL’s decision to have Bad Bunny perform the Super Bowl halftime show in February, while 29% disapprove and 24% did not offer an opinion.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league remains committed to have Bad Bunny perform during the Super Bowl LX halftime show — despite complaints from President Trump, Fox News reports.
Said Goodell: “It’s carefully thought through. I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching.”
Donald Trump is considering commuting Diddy’s sentence as early as this week, TMZ reports.
The president is reportedly “vacillating” on the decision.
“The president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has volunteered to perform at a conservative alternative to the Super Bowl halftime show,” the Daily Beast reports.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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